Blog | How to succeed at Mobile CRM

The use of smartphones is increasing exponentially the world over. Yet, mobile CRM is sporadic and many organisations under – utilise it. Also, most of the few companies that do use mobile CRM fail to achieve user adoption and a positive return on their investment.

The disconnect lies in the popular belief that mobile CRM is just CRM software delivered on smartphones. This simplistic view does not take into account that typical CRM objectives like opportunity management, creating quotes or displaying a 360 degree customer view are rarely delivered within smartphones.

So, how do you go about succeeding with mobile CRM?

Start with the use cases
Mobiles must be use case driven for them to make business sense. You could start your mobile CRM strategy by identifying those business processes and information requests that are most facilitated by anywhere/anytime access.

For example, a sales person may need a lot of information in addition to simple contact information. They might need real-time access to the last conversation minutes, outstanding cases, open orders, product deliveries, unpaid invoices, aged receivables, available credit limit and other information that a customer might request for or they sales people might need to continue their sales pursuits.

ERP integration
Most of the information about customers that sales people look for is saved in back – office accounting or ERP software. CRM systems that are integrated tightly with ERP applications will deliver data experience that is richer and also support many business processes for those who use mobile CRM.

Use the unique capabilities of mobile devices
Synergy cannot be produced by pushing legacy CRM software to mobile devices. You will have to find ways to leverage CRM data with capabilities that are only available on mobile – using a touch screen to update a task or activity, integrating CRM call plans with mobile geo – location, reviewing contact updates form social networks before meeting a contact, and the like. By linking CRM use cases to mobile capabilities we can create efficiencies that will be appreciated by users.

Filter and sort CRM records by user
It is always better to filter and sort CRM records by user. As smartphones are not suited for scrolling, it does not make sense to display every CRM record. Instead, limit records to those assigned to the user, and preferably, only those users who are active.if you sort data by utilisation, you will save a lot of time in search and navigation. Don’t make users sift through tons of records in order to get to what they are looking for because most users will not bother going through the hassle.